The language of Seattle,
that's all the Duwamish territory, Suquamish,
Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Nisqually, Squaxin,
we all speak Southern
Lushootseed.
♪♪
Language
for any Indigenous area is the identity of that area,
so Lushootseed is our identity.
♪♪
I'd like to teach you a phrase today.
The traditional word for Seattle.
There's two that you could identify.
One is the transliterated form of (Speaking in Lushootseed)
like Chief Seattle, (Speaking in Lushootseed).
And the other one is (Speaking in Lushootseed),
is the traditional site of your arrival place
into Seattle.
We have the term (Speaking in Lushootseed) What's up?
(Speaking in Lushootseed)
What's up, Seattle?
The next sentence
I want to provide to you guys is Mt. Rainier.
(Speaking in Lushootseed)
Look at the mountain (Speaking in Lushootseed) today.
(Speaking in Lushootseed)
I was taught at a young age to look at the mountain
to see what weather we're going to face.
If you see a cloud cover over the mountain,
it usually indicates that it's going to rain tomorrow.
(Speaking in Lushootseed)
When I speak this language, I am fulfilling
the work that I feel is meant for me to do in connection
with my ancestors, in connection with my identity.
What we need more than a few people that know
a lot of Lushootseed, we need people.
We need a lot of people to help revitalize it.
There's so much that needs to happen with
Lushootseed in order for it
to become spoken in a natural way again.
(Speaking in Lushootseed)
♪♪